1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) systems. More specifically, the present invention deters product theft by verifying the valid purchase of a product as the product is removed from a store.
2. Background Art
Product theft and the fraudulent return or exchange of merchandise costs retailers billions of dollars a year in losses. The costs associated with such nefarious activity are often passed along to manufacturers and customers. Accordingly, theft preventions systems are used by retailers to reduce instances of product theft and fraudulent product return or exchange.
To deter theft, retailers often staff one or more employees at the exits of a store. Other techniques for discouraging product theft include placing guards in a store or using video surveillance systems. Each of these mechanisms are expensive to implement, require significant oversight on the part of the retailer and are somewhat limited in their actual capacity to deter theft.
As an alternative to these solutions, conventional Electronic Article Surveillance (EAS) technology may be used by a retailer. With EAS, an electronic tag is placed on a product. The tag is removed or deactivated at the point of sale of the product. If the tag is not removed or deactivated, then the tag can trigger an alarm when it passes through an exit of a store. The effectiveness of EAS systems, however, can be severely limited by tag tampering. Further, the frequency of false alarms (i.e., triggering an unnecessary alarm) may limit the effectiveness of EAS systems as store employees can become indifferent to alarm signals that become commonplace. EAS systems are also not able to verify whether a product has been validly purchased when the product is removed form a store. Further, EAS systems are unable to provide any means for determining when a product enters a store or for determining if the return or exchange of the product is authorized.
Accordingly, what is needed is a more robust theft prevention system to prevent both product theft and the fraudulent return or exchange of merchandise. In particular, the theft prevention system should be capable of verifying the valid purchase of a product when the product leaves a store. Further, the system should be capable of determining when a product enters a store and whether or not the return or exchange of the product is acceptable by associating the product with the supply chain history of the product.